April 8, 2011

The Protoss 4 Gate Strategy and How to Stop it

I've been wanting to share my version of the 4 Gate rush for a while now. I think it's hard to find a quality guide on the web. This version has worked well in the low Master league as well. Hope you find it helpful. If you have any questions comment below the post, in the forums, or shoot me an email!

The 4 Gate is one of the most talked about Protoss early game strategies and yet few people know how to execute it properly. When I first started playing, I implemented Day 9's advice about just making lots of "stuff" and not to worry too much about a executing a particular build order correctly. I think this advice served me well up until I reached the Platinum league where it often seemed like my army wasn't quite as big as it should be in the early game. Afterwards, I made an effort to study the 4 Gate execution of Master league and Pro players and I found what I believe to be one of the strongest versions of the 4 Gate.

Build order and replay downloads after the jump

Build Order
9 Pylon
11 Boost Nexus
13 Gateway + Probe sent to scout
14 Assimilator (3 Probes when construction is finished)
17 Cybernetics Core (Warp Gate tech when finished and boost until complete)
18 Zealot
22 Stalker
Stop Probe production when you have 16 gathering minerals and 3 on gas
24 3 Gateways
24 Proxy Pylon
24 Stalker + Boost once
26 Warp in 3 Stalkers and 1 Zealot and attack
34 Build a second Proxy Pylon that will give you ledge access while attacking
34 Pylon in own base (Depends on the situation)

The first wave of warped units should hit around the 5:45 minute mark.
Thanks to Amarkov for this clarification.




Execution and Notes
-Try to save the scouting probe so you can use it to warp in the Proxy Pylon.
-Use your first Zealot and Stalkers to deny scouting and to protect the probe and Proxy Pylon
-All 3 units (Zealot and 2 Stalkers) should be near the Proxy Pylon when warping so you can quickly attack as soon as first warped in units are finished.
-The second Proxy Pylon is a nice touch that really allows you to push this build to another level. It is not critical if you lose it but be sure to build another Pylon in base if you think it might go down.
-If you do get the second Proxy Pylon up you should be able to bypass Bunkers and forcefields by warping in units onto the ledge.

How to Scout the 4 Gate
Scouting a 4 Gate is not rocket science
-Most obvious tell is the construction of 3 Gateways at the exact same time.
-Only one assimilator up until the 4-5 minute mark.
-Boost is only used once on Nexus and then constantly used on Cybernetics Core.
-Probe wandering around the map.
-Pylon found somewhere around your base.


How to Counter or Stop the 4 Gate as Protoss
-Try the "defensive 4 Gate." Identical to the 4 Gate above except you warp in units into your own base in order to kill enemy units cost effectively by using the ramp. See replay below.
- 3 Stalker rush. Push out 3 early stalkers to find the Proxy Pylon and probe. Harder to execute due to APM requirement. See video tutorial below.


Replays
Download 1
Download 2
Download 3
Defensive 4 Gate download
Artosis 3 Stalker rush tutorial

5 comments:

  1. Any chance you need someone to practice the 4 Gate with? I'd relish the chance to see if I can stop your version.

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